Wikipedia:WTF? OMG! TMD TLA. ARG!
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This is an essay. It is not a policy or guideline, it simply reflects some opinions of its authors. Please update the page as needed, or discuss it on the talk page. |
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This page in a nutshell: Try to keep your use of abbreviations down, when talking with human beings. |
Basically, when WP:EDIANS CITE pages IN the PRJ NS, they often refer TO them using CUTS like "BEANS", "BALLS", and "FUC". While these ABB are GREAT for RDRing to a particular page you USE often, it's probably a BAD idea to make A POINT of using these TLAs in daily TALK, lest your discussion end UP as NONSENSE like the TITLE of this page.
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[edit] Translation
- What The Fuck? Oh My God! Too Many Damn Three Letter Acronyms. ARRRGGGHHH!!!!~!@!~1`2
Basically, when Wikipedians refer to pages in the Wikipedia namespace, people often refer to them using shortcuts like "WP:BEANS", "WP:BALLS", and "WP:FUC". While these abbreviations are great for quickly getting to a particular page you use often, it's probably a bad idea to make a point of using these three letter acronyms in daily conversation, lest your discussion end up as nonsense like the title of this page.
[edit] Moral of the story
Always use a proper name for a Wikipedia namespace page when discussing it. If you find you are getting sore wrists and fingers from all the typing, try to simplify or summarise the pages you are referring to, so that in future you only need to refer to a single link. ;-)
- or
This is an encyclopedia, not text messaging.
[edit] Rebuttal from efficiency
- Some wikipedians defend the use of three letter acronyms that substitute for long words as appropriate in many cases. While there is admittedly a tendency by some to employ obscure acronym use and incomprehensible letterspeak, other wikipedians may believe that there are many appropriate uses of acronyms, especially when used as shorthand for the most common concepts that experienced wikipedians ought to be familar with, such as the names of common editing policies. They may feel that seasoned contributors to the wikipedia encyclopedia project ought to understand these common core concepts, and that reactions like What The Fuck? Oh My God! Too Many Damn Three Letter Acronyms. ARRRGGGHHH!!!!~!@!~1`2 are in some cases a symptom of wikipedia editor inexperience and unfamiliarity with wikiculture. Honestly, when you have to revert vandalism all day long, sometimes, "rv per WP:VAND" is all you need to say in the edit line. Any more than that is a waste of brain cells.
[edit] Offline users hurt the most
However consider e.g., offline users. Offline users go nuts as they have to wait until they return home to connect to the network to find out what the snooty abbreviations mean in the article they are reading offline.
They download interesting articles on to their PDA, go on a camping trip, only to find them full of these childish abbreviations, with not even the real article's name expanded in the HTML href (wasting another HTTP request too). They must wait until next week when back in town to find out what they mean.
Just 0.1% more bytes and the articles could be self-contained.
What if the One Laptop Per Child program doesn't include the full wikipedia, but just half? Same problem.
Moral of the story #2: make self-contained articles!
